Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Reduces Position in LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. cut its holdings in shares of LPL Financial Holdings Inc. (NASDAQ:LPLA) by 1.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,544 shares of the financial services provider’s stock after selling 519 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.’s holdings in LPL Financial were worth $13,558,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. DGS Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 2.8% in the first quarter. DGS Capital Management LLC now owns 1,625 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $429,000 after buying an additional 44 shares in the last quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Oliver Luxxe Assets LLC now owns 8,152 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,856,000 after buying an additional 48 shares in the last quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 74.7% in the second quarter. Tortoise Investment Management LLC now owns 131 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 56 shares in the last quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 0.9% in the first quarter. Gulf International Bank UK Ltd now owns 6,410 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $1,693,000 after buying an additional 60 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LVW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of LPL Financial by 1.9% in the first quarter. LVW Advisors LLC now owns 3,245 shares of the financial services provider’s stock worth $857,000 after buying an additional 61 shares in the last quarter. 95.66% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

LPL Financial Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NASDAQ LPLA opened at $206.98 on Friday. LPL Financial Holdings Inc. has a one year low of $187.19 and a one year high of $289.88. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.77, a current ratio of 2.16 and a quick ratio of 2.16. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $224.72 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $254.53. The stock has a market capitalization of $15.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 15.63, a PEG ratio of 1.21 and a beta of 0.88.

LPL Financial (NASDAQ:LPLA) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 25th. The financial services provider reported $3.88 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $3.66 by $0.22. LPL Financial had a net margin of 8.91% and a return on equity of 52.14%. The firm had revenue of $2.93 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $2.89 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $3.94 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 18.8% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that LPL Financial Holdings Inc. will post 15.9 EPS for the current fiscal year.

LPL Financial Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, August 23rd. Stockholders of record on Friday, August 9th were issued a $0.30 dividend. This represents a $1.20 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 0.58%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, August 9th. LPL Financial’s dividend payout ratio is 9.06%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

LPLA has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $322.00 to $334.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Monday, July 8th. StockNews.com upgraded shares of LPL Financial from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $313.00 to $273.00 and set an “overweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. UBS Group decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $290.00 to $215.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 6th. Finally, Keefe, Bruyette & Woods decreased their price objective on shares of LPL Financial from $326.00 to $315.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 26th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, LPL Financial has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $275.27.

About LPL Financial

LPL Financial Holdings Inc, together with its subsidiaries, provides an integrated platform of brokerage and investment advisory services to independent financial advisors and financial advisors at enterprises in the United States. Its brokerage offerings include variable and fixed annuities, mutual funds, equities, fixed income, alternative investments, retirement and 529 education savings plans, and insurance.